A 3-year-old Camden boy died Thursday afternoon after accidentally shooting himself in the head, authorities said.
The child had found a loaded pistol in the back bedroom of his house in the 1500 block of Copeland Street in Camden, according to a news release from the city's Police Department.
An investigation is ongoing, but police said it appears the boy accidentally shot himself.
His mother, who had briefly left her son to use the bathroom, heard a gunshot and went to the bedroom, the release said. She found the boy lying on the floor next to a bed with a gunshot wound to his head and called for help.
Camden police said they responded just before 1 p.m. and found the mother, identified as Jessica Faulkner, in the living room holding her son. An ambulance took him to an area emergency room, where he was pronounced dead.
The boy's father is Camden police officer Alec Faulkner, who was on duty at the time of the incident.
State Desk on 11/10/2018